Festival Henna & Friendship

This weekend saw my very first foray into the Festival Henna scene. Never one to do things by halves, I jumped in with both feet and booked myself into the Crafts Market for Bingley Music Live – a full, 3 day music festival. What. An. Amazing Experience that was. My team of quite frankly AMAZING booth babes and myself went with the key goal of: Relax and Enjoy.

Early mornings on site at BML15

Well. We were inundated with MASSIVE Henna Loving from so many festival goers! I have over 190 photos to process and upload. It was immense and I wished I had been able to clone myself to avoid turning people away for toilet and meal breaks. But never fear! I shall be back again next year for Bingley Music Live 2016 – with a bigger team! More henna! And more JOY for all of Bingers!

The sensible photo.

For now, I would like to take a moment to express deep and heartfelt gratitude to my beautiful and wonderful booth babes. Some of you will have learned from us during the weekend that these ladies who kept the queue organised, and the breaks regularly scheduled, actually came to work with me on a purely voluntary basis for the entire 3 days. These ladies are an amazing group of friends made during my first years as a first-time mother – so we have known each other for roughly 8 years now. They have seen my growth and my developing obsessive passion with henna. They wanted me taking the jump into the festival scene even more than I wanted it for myself and have made it their mission to give me that all important kickstart. They were there with me during the early starts and there for the late finishes. We joked and we laughed together. We grumped and we moaned together. They kept me sane and focussed on the importance of enjoying the moment and having FUN. Polite, professional and equipped with people skills that money can’t buy. We had Caroline ‘I’ve got the Talk and I know how to use it’: There wasn’t a single vendor or member of site staff who didn’t love her or want her for their own team! It was clear to all what a diamond she is. Then Helen ‘Don’t Mess with the Money’: Calm and composed throughout every situation, like a cooling breeze. You would be hard pushed to find anybody more supportive in friendship. And finally Abigail ‘Dance ’til my legs hurt’: Coming in on Saturday to provide some very much needed relief and support for Caroline and Helen, this lady has been talking about attending BML for years and last year I vowed I would get her there by hook or by crook. And what a laugh it was! If I could pay them what they are worth, I would never be able to afford them. These ladies are worth their weight in gold.

Can’t keep a straight face, even with our backs to the camera!

Please join me in a communal digital standing ovation for these truly amazing ladies. I am overwhelmed with emotion and gratitude whenever I realise what they have done for me. If you have the honour of meeting them, know that you have met awesomeness. I am blessed to be able to call them my friends.